


A Knight for the Prince

by rustandstardust



Category: Code Geass
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-02
Updated: 2013-05-02
Packaged: 2017-12-10 04:37:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/781855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rustandstardust/pseuds/rustandstardust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His memory re-written, Lelouch is re-integrated into the royal family as if nothing in Area 11 had ever happened and it's there that he meets Gino Weinberg, a boy desperate to become his knight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Knight for the Prince

**Author's Note:**

> Originally a fill for a prompt on the kink meme, an AU in which Lelouch's memory is re-written so he has absolutely no memory of Suzaku at all and Gino becomes his knight (and subsequently, as it was the kink meme, gets in his pants).

The emperor rewrote Lelouch’s memory to suit the needs of the Empire, Suzaku knows. Lelouch will remember nothing of his ‘Zero’ persona, will recall none of the deeds the masked leader did as plans of his own creation. He has erased his prodigal son’s hatred of the empire and replaced it the attitude a Britannian royal should have; though Suzaku thinks that, in Lelouch, it will manifest not in adoration of the empire but in a gratitude that now, unlike before, he’s in a position to help. _Legally_ , Suzaku thinks wryly, as Lelouch will remember nothing of his Geass power (Charles reached inside his mind and repressed it, locked it away) and for that Suzaku is thankful.

Most important, Charles had explained as Suzaku held open Lelouch’s eye, he will remember nothing of the real reason he returned to Britannia; instead he will think that upon being discovered as alive by their father they were returned to the homeland to live as the prince and princess that they are (Suzaku is happy; even through all of the pain and death, carnage and destruction that Nunnally’s memory will be rewritten so that she’ll remember a lifetime of happy memories with Lelouch, and none with him – to her, too, he will be a stranger) and Suzaku will be nothing but another Knight of the Round to them.

He remembers Japan, the emperor reiterates to Suzaku as Lelouch sleeps a heavy, dreamless sleep; he remembers staying with the prime minister and then with the Ashford family.

But he will remember nothing of Suzaku. Suzaku guesses that his shock shows on his face (even when he fights for it to stay hidden) and Charles explains further; Suzaku is a trigger to the memories of a dream for liberated Japan and Lelouch’s dangerous power that cannot awaken. This, they cannot afford.

“You are Nunnally’s personal Knight,” Charles tells him. “But you will not see Lelouch, nor speak to him under any circumstances.”

Suzaku falls to one knee and cross his hand over his broken heart. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

\--

“Isn’t it exciting, Suzaku?” Gino chirps, practically bouncing around the Knights’ lounge. “To have the missing prince and princess back after so long?”

Suzaku’s heart plummets. Yeah, great to have them back after the death of another princess, _his_ princess; great to have them back because Lelouch is a wanted criminal who came this close to dying. _How many coffins before there’s a crown_?

“It’s great, Gino,” he agrees quietly. “It really is great.”

“And have you _seen_ the prince?”

 _Yeah_ , Suzaku thinks wryly. There are so many emotions in his heart when he even _thinks_ about Lelouch; anger, hatred, betrayal, love (still?) and it just makes him _sad_. He can’t tell Gino what he’s seen (Lelouch, naked and pale and _beautiful_ in the moonlight streaming in the clubhouse’s window; Lelouch, cruel and cutthroat, heartless and demented at best as he shot Euphemia point-blank; Lelouch, broken and bleeding and _begging_ Suzaku not to take him back to Britannia) because he’s under strict orders to say nothing. To the Britannians, he is just the exemplary Honorary Britannian who brought the prince and princess home, nothing more.

“Yeah, I’ve seen him Gino,” he answers, turning a page in the book he’s reading.

Gino flops down in the chair next to Suzaku and props his feet on the table. “He’s a _babe_...” he sighs dreamily, resting his hands behind his head as he stares up at the decorated ceiling. “And I don’t normally go for guys, you know? But the prince...wow.”

Suzaku says nothing, focusing on the page in the book he’s reading; it’s an old poem, written in Archaic English (it sounds like something Lelouch would love) and he hasn’t been able to put it down since he started reading. Gino doesn’t really want him to respond anyway, he knows the Knight of Three well enough already to know that sometimes, he just wants to _talk_.

“He’s got that dark, soft hair and those _pretty_ purple eyes...” Gino continues. “And he’s so tall and thin and he seems so...so...”

“Elegant,” Suzaku offers flatly as he turns a page. Elegant in bearing and eloquent in speech, Lelouch is just this side of perfect. On one side of the coin, at least; the other...he’s a monster. Or at least, he was.

“Do you think the Emperor will give him a knight?” Gino asks. Suzaku stops reading and looks up for a brief moment – he hasn’t thought of that. By all tradition, Lelouch doesn’t need a knight, but he’s a special case; he’ll need constant watch, and the OSI officers would get a bit conspicuous to someone as intelligent as Lelouch.

“I mean, traditionally only the princesses get knights, right?” Gino muses to himself, mostly. “But Prince Lelouch does seem kinda weak...”

 _He is_ , Suzaku thinks suddenly. Weak but so, so powerful at the same time – he’s a danger, he wants to tell Gino. Don’t get close to him, he’ll lie and manipulate and break your heart in two. But instead, he follows orders and stays silent. Maybe Lelouch won’t do those things, now.

“Do you think _I_ have a chance to be his knight?” Gino asks, sitting bolt upright in his chair and slamming his hands down excitedly on the desk. Suzaku startles, catching the book as it threatens to slide off the table and sighs.

“You talk to the emperor, right?” Gino demands as he shakes Suzaku’s shoulders as he looks him in the eye, big blue eyes pleading. “You brought his favorite wife’s children home _,_ right? He’d _have_ to listen to _you!_ ”

Suzaku closes the book and sets it on the table with a sigh as he rises to his feet. “I guess so. If you want, I could-”

“You’ll put in a good word for me, right? Won’t you?” Gino is practically giddy,

All Suzaku can think as he walks away is that Gino has no idea what he’s getting himself into.

\--

“Your Majesty,” Suzaku starts as he approaches the throne room, falling to one knee as he approaches the throne.

“You are here to persuade me to allow the Weinberg boy to be Lelouch’s knight,” Charles says, dropping all pretenses and smirking, as if he’s found the punchline of a hilarious joke. “Is that not so, Kururugi?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Suzaku answers honestly. “He asked me to put in a good word for him. He wants to...” _You know what Gino wants to do,_ a voice in Suzaku’s head says with a smirk. “He wants to have the honor and acclaim of being a personal knight to a royal.”

“Weinberg’s intentions are...well, safe to say that they won’t interfere with my plans at all, and it’s true he is the only one fit for the job...” Charles says, fingertips stroking his chin as he thinks and Suzaku feels his stomach churn; the Emperor knows what he and Lelouch were to each other. To make it worse, the implication between the words he speaks lets Suzaku know he’d be more than fine with it if Gino serve Lelouch in every way, and the guilt he feels for not truly hating Lelouch _almost_ overrides the tinge of jealousy he feels when he thinks about Lelouch being with anyone else. “The more distracted Lelouch is by superficial matters, the less likely it is that his memories will ever return.”

“Understood.”

\--

“That’s him?” Lelouch asks as he walks into the small, glass box where the Third Research and Development team is running diagnostics. “Gino Weinberg?”

They nod simultaneously, scurrying from their seats in a flurry of scuffling boots and tripping over each other and he sighs, waving them from their attempts to bow. “I want to talk to him.”

\--

“So, Lord Weinberg,” an unfamiliar voice addresses him from the speakers to his left, the Rounds-exclusive communication channel crackling with the sound. He’s not expecting it today; out doing a few test-runs on the upgrades that his team had made for him he usually only heard encouragement from them, and he knows all their voices by heart.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out!” he jokes, pulling the lever and moving the _Tristan_ into Fortress mode, zooming in between two floating airships and executing a flawless roll before pushing the lever back in hard to switch back to Frame. There is a muffled sound of metal ripping as the Harkens reach out and destroy the test frames on either side of him. “ _Yes_!”

The voice laughs quietly, a low, bemused chuckle. “I understand you’re to be my new knight, Lord Weinberg,” Lelouch vi Britannia all but purrs, and Gino smirks. _Finally_ , he thinks, he gets to actually talk to the prince after a week of Suzaku promising the motions had been put in place to knight him again in Lelouch’s name. “That is of course, if I’ll have you.”

“Oh, I’m sure you will, your Highness,” Gino smirks as he flicks a switch, extending one of the swords in the _Tristan’s_ hands and demolishing one of the floating targets they’ve set up for him to practice on. “They don’t call me an ace pilot for nothing, let me tell you _that!”_

“Impress me,” Lelouch challenges before the intercom goes silent.

\--

Lelouch is impressed, to say the least. The _Tristan_ is an impressive bit of machinery and its pilot executes each move in it flawlessly; his style is almost elegant, if not a bit over-confident.

When his father told him that, breaking tradition, not only Nunnally but he as well would be receiving the protection of a personal Knight. Nunnally’s, he’s told, is an Honorary Britannian (supposedly the boy who brought them here, knighted for his bravery, but Lelouch isn’t sure – he doesn’t remember much of their return to the homeland, only the carnage that Zero caused and them being escorted safely out of it) and his...his is to be Lord Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three and the second-youngest member. It seems a joke at first, a cruel ploy on his father’s part to punish him for not coming out of hiding sooner, but now that he’s out on the floor of the testing facility he’s grateful – Gino is _good_. He steps forward, oblivious to the quiet murmurs of everyone else in the room and watches the screens intently – while most show pages of diagnostics and tests, some views of the frame as it spins through the air, one shows the goings-on of the cockpit and Lelouch smirks. Gino is younger than him, he knows from talking to servants in the palace, sixteen to his own seventeen, but he’s _handsome_ ; a strong jaw and a cocky grin, lively blue eyes that light up when he succeeds.

“Is he more proficient in Frame or Fortress mode?” Lelouch questions over his shoulder to the entirety of Gino’s R&D team - young, over-confident graduate students from the European Union, eager to impress just like their patron. He has piqued interest in Knightmare Frames (he supposes it comes from his mother, prodigy of a pilot that she was) and he’s impressed not only by the pilot, but by the machine.

“There’s honestly not an answer to that question, Highness,” one of the girls answers as she jots down some recordings. “He’s incredible with both!”

Lelouch rolls his eyes at the lack of a proper response and thrusts his hip out indignantly, resting a hand on it as he waits for Gino to come down out of the air. He lands the _Tristan_ with a flourish when he does, the Frame’s arms crossed over its chest with spears in hand, tall and proud and nothing less than what Lelouch expected. Gino steps onto the lift to come down and Lelouch smirks, rising from his chair and stepping out of the box and into the blowing wind to greet him.

“Lord Weinberg,” he says, voice raised just a tad to be heard over the sound of the wind. Gino is more of an impressive sight when he descends from the cockpit; finely built and impressively muscular in his tight flight suit. He’s tall, at least half a foot taller than himself and he carries himself with an easy confidence.

“Your Highness,” Gino says with a wide, ( _stupid_ ) smile before he drops to his knee. “Should I kiss your hand like a princess, or would you prefer I lick your boots?” _Impudent,_ Lelouch notes with a smile.

“I’d be fine with both,” Lelouch teases, bringing a hand out and gesturing him up. Gino obeys, rising to his feet and looking over ( _his_ ) prince. He’s tall with long, thin legs; a dramatic arch to his back and a lithe little body clothed in elegant white clothes. A hand rests on his hip, one toying with the purple jewel on the front of his shirt and Gino grins crookedly, already imagining those nimble fingers on his skin, those skinny legs hooked around his hips. Lelouch is gorgeous; pale, with soft pampered skin, with high cheekbones and full lips surrounded by dark, dark hair and the prettiest eyes Gino’s ever seen – deep royal purple framed with thick, dark lashes. “But for the sake of propriety, Giovanni, let’s go with...neither. You aren’t my knight yet, after all.”

“How did you-“ Gino starts, frustrated, unzipping his flight suit down to his chest, breathing a sigh of relief into the wind, happy to be free of the warm confines of the cockpit. “How’d you learn my real name, huh?”

Lelouch reaches out, brushing one of Gino’s characteristic thin braids back from where it’s stuck in his collar and letting his long fingers run just briefly along the zipper of his flight suit. “I have my ways, Gio,” he purrs, rubbing teasingly across his bare chest. “Consider me impressed, by the way. I want you re-knighted in my name as soon as possible; I suppose I’ll have you.”

Gino catches his arm in his grasp (he can wrap his hand around it and his fingers overlap) and rubs a finger across the sensitive underside of Lelouch’s wrist. It should tickle, Lelouch knows (he’s more ticklish than he’d like to admit; Suzaku had exploited it when they were children) but it _doesn’t_ , it sends a jolt of electricity up his arm and down his spine, makes him want to moan and he feels his teeth sink into his bottom lip to stifle it.

“Anything you say, princess,” Gino teases, leaning down as if to whisper something in Lelouch’s ear. It makes sense; the roaring wind makes it hard to understand each other and for anyone watching, he could just want to assure he’s heard. He ghosts his lips across Lelouch’s neck and moans low in his throat; he can taste the clean of his pampered skin and he kisses his earlobe before he speaks, low and deliberate. “You’ll take me, huh? I sure hope you will, pretty.”

Lelouch pulls back, dark eyes widened in surprise as he looks Gino up and down, seeing him in a new light – not just a protector, someone to toy with when he’s bored but a _partner,_ someone he finds himself ridiculously and inexplicably attracted to. He bows his head low for a moment, laughing lightly to himself before flashing Gino the smile that had driven girls at Ashford Academy wild and with that, he turns on his heel and walks back towards the car to return him to the palace.  He’s decidedly shaken, having walked into this intending to be taken seriously, to be admired, but to be _wanted_ , and for the impertinent brat to be so _blatant_ about it – he’s not sure how to react.

\--

_one month later_

“Lord Weinberg,” Lelouch begins as he stands before his father on the dais, resplendent in white and royal purple, a tinge of blue here and there. Gino kneels before him on the middle step, a hand crossed over his heart and looking proud and strong in his long, green Knight of the Round’s robe. “Six months ago, you forsook fealty to yourself and swore it only to the crown, joined the Knights of the Round and became the Knight of Three.”

“I did,” Gino answers, his posture crisp, formal, not wavering for an instant. “And I would do it again, Your Highness.”

Suzaku watches from beside Nunnally, her hand cradled in his. “Such a wonderful day for my big brother, isn’t it Suzaku?” she asks sweetly, a polite whisper as she smiles. “He must be so proud!” _Yeah_ , Suzaku thinks sadly. _I bet he is._

He laughs and hopes it doesn’t sound too forced, instead going for lighthearted. “I know Gino is, and I bet Lelouch is, too.”

“Does my brother look handsome? Like a prince again?” Nunnally wants to know. “I wish I could see him and his knight.”

 _I wish I couldn’t._ He shouldn’t be this _jealous_ ; it’s not right. Lelouch took everything from him (but he still loves him, he knows, and he always will), and this day makes him remember one afternoon when he knelt before Euphemia and took the same vows and in those moments he is so angry he feels ill. But still, there is the jealousy, the knowledge that if Lelouch were to have a knight it should be _him_.

“Dost thou, Giovanni Weinberg, swear to, from this day forward, further serve the crown by adopting the role of my personal Knight?” Lelouch asks, taking the ornamental Britannian sword when Gino draws it from his scabbard into hands that look as if they’re meant to wield it.

“I do,” Gino swears, bending his neck as Lelouch touches the blade sideways to his left shoulder, then his right.

“Then rise as my Knight, Sir Weinberg.”

\--

_two weeks later_

“Tell me your story, Gio,” Lelouch says as he flips through a volume of old literature. “Where did the amazing Giovanni Weinberg come from?”

“I wish you wouldn’t call me that, Prince,” Gino sighs. “I go by Gino for a reason.”

“Oh, I know you do,” Lelouch says sweetly. “But as your Prince, I can choose not to call you that. And I like to be a bit more familiar with people who hold me in their hands. My life, so to speak.”

Gino smirks and _knows_ that implication is intentional and glances back at him from his position by the door. They’re in the library and Lelouch is spread out on a couch, a book cradled in his lap and a leg stretched over the arm of it, looking irresistible as usual in a pair of well-fitting black pants and a pale green dress shirt. He’s thumbing through the book like he’s almost bored. He flicks a page idly and glances up at Gino with a look like he’s expecting something.

“I left home when I was sixteen,” Gino begins. “My family...we had an argument.”

“An argument?” Lelouch continues helpfully, sitting upright in the chair and placing the book on the end table. He rests his elbows on his knees and his chin in his palms, looking up at Gino as he walks across the room. “About what?”

Gino sighs and flops down on the couch next to him.  “There was...this girl. A maid in our house, she would...wash the clothes, help cook the food,” he continues, his shoulders sagging a little as he starts the story. “I was 14. She was 17. I loved her, but my parents didn’t approve. She was a maid, and...an Eleven.”

 “Japanese,” Lelouch corrects softly, rubbing Gino’s knee and turning towards him on the couch. He crosses a leg beneath him and leaves one hanging off the edge, an arm resting up against the couch back “You know how I feel about that.”

“Sorry. Habit, you know,” Gino says sheepishly as he relaxes back onto the couch. “They found out about us. They whipped her in front of me, Lelouch. Whipped her and threw her out.”

“Your parents sound absolutely charming.”

 “I tried to sneak her money but they caught me,” he laments. “Made me stay in the house for a month, it was like a lockdown. I ran away two years later, as soon as I could. I joined the military, got started piloting an old Sutherland. They noticed how good I was and recommended me for the Knighthood.”

“How jealous your family must be.” Lelouch purrs, rubbing Gino’s knee slowly, finger running up and down the seam of the pants on his inner thigh. “Here you are, not only a Knight of the Round but the personal Knight of a prince.”

“I’m pretty awesome, what can I say,” the knight laughs, closing his hand over Lelouch’s to still his movements before linking their fingers, bringing Lelouch’s hand gently to his lips and kissing each finger in turn. “You’re proud of me, right? _Right_?”

“Of course I am, Gio.”

\--

“Suzakuuu...” Gino whines as he clings onto him. “I need to talk to somebody...”

Suzaku pushes him off firmly, taking him by the shoulders and asking “What is it, Gino?”

“It’s Lelouch...” Gino says, his voice lowering to a whisper. “Don’t tell anyone, but I...I mean, we’ve...been fooling around.”

 _I know_.“Is that so? Don’t worry Gino, I won’t tell anyone,” he lies. If Charles asks, Suzaku will tell him everything he knows. Half out of spite, half out of obedience, but either way, he will.

“And I really like him. Like, a whole lot. But he doesn’t wanna have sex yet,” Gino explains as he sits down in one of the chairs at the table. “But we’ve done like, everything else.”

“Really?” Suzaku asks, already more than a little disinterested. He turns the page of the briefing packet he’s skimming and hopes Gino ends this conversation soon.

“But he’s never...you know. Done that before. But I’m really excited for when he does finally let me do that, I want to make him so happy. Thanks for listening, Suzaku, you’re the best.”

“Welcome,” he mumbles as Gino walks away. _Yes he has done that before_ , Suzaku thinks angrily. _He_ has _, and it was_ me _and it shouldn’t be_ you _._

Of course, Lelouch remembers none of that. He remembers nothing of him.

\--

“Tell me your deepest secret, Giovanni,” Lelouch orders. He says it casually, like a request for a favor; he’s bored, playing chess with himself at the corner table. Gino is sitting on Lelouch’s desk, the heels of his boots banging against the bottom drawer as he swings his legs idly back and forth.

“I want you.” Gino blurts out before he can think; before he can even _process_ the order he’s been given and he realizes it too late. Most times when he asks about it, Lelouch seems nervous, antsy; like he doesn’t want to sleep with him. “ _That_ was out of line.”

“ _That_ was not a secret,” Lelouch teases, crossing the room in a few short strides and nestling himself between Gino’s spread legs. He trails his hands from knee to navel and smirks, kissing along Gino’s jaw as he purrs, “You’re bad at following orders, my knight.”

“Good at it, most of the time,” Gino murmurs as his hand slides down Lelouch’s back to pull him closer, resting on the curve of his ass as he grins. “Sorry, didn’t mean to say anything to make you uncomfortable, babe.”

Lelouch turns around so his back is to Gino’s chest and sighs, letting his head fall back against his knight’s broad shoulder as he rests his hands on his knees.”I know it’s something you want, Gio.”

Gino’s arms slide around Lelouch’s body and rest on his bony hips, kissing along his arched neck, voice low as he says “Yeah, but I’m not an ass, you know I’m not going  to-“

“It’s...something I want, too.”

Gino doesn’t need to be told twice. His thumbs slide into the hollows of Lelouch’s hipbones, rubbing gently as he kisses along his neck, breath hot in his ear just as it had been between them that first day. “Your wish is my command, my fair prince,” he teases as he nips at Lelouch’s earlobe, his chuckle a low rumble. “I’ll make it so good for you.”

It certainly isn’t the first time they’ve been in Lelouch’s bed, pressed so close together they lose track of where one ends and the other begins, and it’s not the first time they’ve been naked, hands roaming all over each other’s bodies – Gino’s big, firm hands on Lelouch’s smooth, sharp body and Lelouch’s long-fingered hands on each plane of muscle in turn. Despite his dramatics and apparent need for perfection there is no whispered ‘I’m ready’ and certainly no pleas for them to make love; they are beyond that and Gino is glad for it, glad that Lelouch doesn’t whimper and beg him to be gentle because at this point _he doesn’t think he could_. Lelouch has gotten better about it, a few fingers and he is a little more relaxed, a little more open (but _tight_ , still so tight, Gino thinks to himself as his fingers stretch him open, fighting the urge to throw the pretty prince onto his hands and knees and _take him_ ) and that’s exactly how Gino wants him. On his back under him, looking up at him with lust in his dark eyes, hips rocking against Gino’s leg, _grinding_ against it because he wants it so bad and Gino almost forgets the lube  (snatched from a shop in the last city he visited on duty) in his haste to get at him. He smiles sheepishly when Lelouch glares indignantly up at him, kisses his forehead and rocks against him, fisting a slick hand around his cock and giving a few eager jerks. Lelouch’s nails are already digging into his shoulders when he presses it against him and they bite into his skin _hard_ when he pushes it _in_ and oh god, nothing has ever felt this good. Not the few girls he’s been with, not the pride and elation he’d felt for himself when he’d been Knighted, _nothing_ is like the too-tight heat of the prince’s body and he’s sure there’s a few rude ‘fucks’ and a mumbled ‘damn’ before he can ever work up the ability to say anything _nice_. He fishes for something to say, then; how pretty Lelouch looks, how perfect he feels, but all he can think about is _tight tight fuck god take him make him_ his.

He doesn’t last as long as he would have liked, but it’s alright; Lelouch is worn out easily, panting and out of breath before they’ve even done, clinging to Gino like a lifeline as he arches against him when he comes, painting their bellies with come as he cries out.

“Shit,” Gino says as he rolls off of him, pulling Lelouch into his arms and he thinks it’s _cute_ when Lelouch smacks his roaming hands away, still too over-sensitive and he loves knowing that he made him this way.

“Charming, Gio.”

\--

Gino strolls through the halls of Pendragon Palace like he’s walking on air, smiles giddily and plays around during training even more; Lelouch smiles when no one is looking and acts self-conscious about his hair, his clothes, laughing like the girls back at Ashford whenever Gino tells a (decidedly stupid) joke. Suzaku knows he’s not self-conscious at all, he’s too confident (arrogant?) for that but it bothers him to see Lelouch so preoccupied with impressing Gino, so _flirty._ It hurts to see them like this. He doesn’t know if they’re falling in love or just fooling around, but either way, it hurts. It shouldn’t; Lelouch destroyed his life, Lelouch isn’t _his_ anymore and it’s not being _unfaithful_ if he doesn’t even remember who Suzaku is.

His suspicions are confirmed when he wanders into the library one day, eager to find the next in a series he’d been reading in his spare time and they’re _there_ , hidden in one of the alcoves with the window seats. He hears them before he sees them, hides behind a statue and watches, feeling like the worst kind of voyeur. Lelouch’s back is to the window, folded nearly in half with legs hooked tight around Gino’s hips and Gino is just _thrusting_ , low groans muffled into Lelouch’s shoulder as he fucks him. Lelouch’s head is tilted back against the window, hair a mess and he has his own fist shoved against his mouth, a desperate attempt to silence the pretty moans spilling out his lips. The sound of Gino’s hips slapping against Lelouch’s thighs is almost too much for him to bear and it’s all he can do not to storm over and wrench Gino off of him, shake him and tell him to stop touching what’s _his_ , that no one else needs to know what it feels like being inside Lelouch.

Thinking like that, he knows, could get him into trouble, and so he collects his book with a resigned sigh and leaves them to their business.

The day after that, Lelouch meets Gino in the Knightmare Frame hangar (Suzaku knows, because he’s sitting in the cockpit of the Lancelot ensuring that a new program gets installed and he _hears_ them; hears the _dirty_ way they talk to each other when they think no one’s around. He sees everything; the way Gino gladly gets on his knees for Lelouch, the way he bends over and lets him have him right there, in a corner of such a public space, hidden behind one of the Tristan’s legs and they get off on it, Gino’s low moans as Lelouch fucks into him from behind, his heavy breathing as he drapes himself over him to tease that _anyone_ could catch them. Suzaku seethes with anger (he remembers what it was like, taking Lelouch inside) and ducks back inside the cockpit.

He spends a long time sitting in the cockpit of the Lancelot that night; long after Gino and Lelouch sneak away, back to Lelouch’s lavish bedroom and long after even the computer program shows its ‘successfully installed’ message. He wonders if he could have done anything differently and if he’s made the right decisions so far.

\--

“Would you follow me to the ends of the earth?” Lelouch asks, oddly romantic in the dead of the night as he rests his head in the crook of Gino’s strong arm, liking the way it wraps around him to rest on his hip. He traces circles with manicured nails on his bared chest, listening to the pattern of his breathing, the beating of his heart. “If something was wrong and you had to choose a side, would it be mine?”

“Of course I would. You’re my prince,” Gino assures him as he runs his fingers through Lelouch’s hair, letting the soft strands cascade like smooth water over and between his fingers.

“Yes, you bent the knee and swore a vow. But not just because of that,” he insists. “I have no use for a mindless follower, I want someone with purpose.”

“If you’re asking if I love you, the answer is yes.” Gino feels the tension leave Lelouch’s shoulders when he says that, hears the almost inaudible exhale, letting out the breath he was holding.

“Good.” Lelouch says, letting his eyes slide closed. He can’t escape the nagging feeling that there was something he was meant to _do_ and he hopes Gino is right there beside him.


End file.
